1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suspension type robot, and in particular, to a suspension type robot that comprises a traveling rail mounted, in a bridge form, between apical ends of support armsupport arms of a pair of posts and a robot body suspended from the traveling rail so as to be able to move along the traveling rail.
2. Description of the Related Art
A suspension type robot is known as an assembly operation robot or the like in a factory, for example. Such a robot is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-68382. This suspension type robot comprises a pair of posts positioned on a floor of a plant, a traveling rail mounted between the pair of posts in a bridge form, and a robot body (robot arm) supported by the traveling rail in a suspended form. The robot body moves back and forth along the traveling rail to perform operations.
The posts of the suspension type robot allow the traveling rail to be mounted in merely a single predetermined direction, so that the position of the post is determined according to the mounting position of the traveling rail. Thus, there was insufficient flexibility in locating the posts when, for example, a change to the layout of the facility was required.
The inventors of the present invention have conceived of a technical idea of displacing the position of the posts in relative to the traveling rail, by allowing an attachment portion of the traveling rail to be attachable to a support armsupport arm from predetermined directions. The support arm is provided to the apical end of each of the posts. However, moving the position of the post relative to the traveling rail causes the traveling rail to be temporarily unfixed from the posts, which could cause the traveling rail to fall down. Therefore, it is critical to provide a safe environment to operators when relocating the post.